Standing at his desk minutes after a grueling 56-54 win over Olathe North, Leavenworth girls' basketball coach Derek Zeck gave a pithy summation of a contest that would've still been going had North not missed a game-tying lay-up at the buzzer.

"We did everything wrong to lose the game, and still found a way to win."

Zeck meant it in a positive way. Sure, there were plenty of holes to poke in the turnover-happy, grind-it-out affair against a team winless in league play.

But Zeck's attitude was that the test of a team is in the response to adverse circumstances, not the circumstances themselves.

"As a young team, you have to win games like that. We did the same thing against Seaman and kind of fell apart [and lost]. [Tonight] you could see in their face that they believed they would win," Zeck said.

The game abruptly switched from a one-possession track meet of fast breaks and 50-50 balls into a free throw shooting contest in the final two minutes.

Leavenworth couldn't shut the door from the line, and after a North 3-pointer, the stage was set for a game-tying shot. North worked the ball down low, but the shot was too strong off the backboard.

The win is the Lady Pioneers' eighth in their last ten games. Since starting the season 1-3, they're 8-2.

"They're starting to get confident and starting to believe that maybe we have something special," Zeck said.

Tashia Jones and Tyler Johnson asserted themselves at different points in the game. Jones finished with 12 points and Johnson had 11.

Rounding out Leavenworth's top scorers, Destinee Robinson had 11 points, Shelby Ogden had six, and Rashayla Mathis had seven, five on free throws down the stretch.

Leavenworth, 9-5, goes to Lawrence to play Free State Tuesday.

- Ian Stanford

Lady Lions punish Turner

Friday night with the second quarter nearing conclusion, the Lady Lions basketball team was feeling the heat.

Turner was closing in on the lead and Lansing could have easily given in. Instead, the squad went on a critical scoring run to close the half.

The run was spearheaded by Madison Bosworth who scored the last three buckets of the half for Lansing. Bosworth led the Lady Lions, who defeated Turner 66-32, in scoring with 16 points.

"She stepped up great tonight. They didn't have an answer for her." Lansing coach Christine Robinson said. "I'm really proud of how she came off the bench and represented our team on offense and on defense."

The Lady Lions got off to a strong start leading at the end of the first quarter 14-6.

Page 2 of 3 - Turner made their run in the second period to draw within two of Lansing. But the home team's strong finish gave them a 30-21.

The second half the Lady Lions continued to stretch their lead, including dominating the fourth quarter 19-4.

"Really proud of the girls, I thought our post players did a great job stepping up tonight and the guards did a great job into our size." Robinson said. "I'm proud of our girls we've worked hard for this feeling and they deserve to enjoy it."

Bosworth led the team in points while Hailey Budke had 12 in addition to Carly Bohannon's and Kija Cammock's seven.

Lansing, 2-13, and will play at home against Bonner Springs Tuesday night at 5:45 p.m.

- James Howey

Raiders' decline continues

It has not been an easy couple of weeks for the Lady Raiders basketball team.

That trend continued on Friday, when the squad lost to host Maur-Hill 41-23.

"We are just not getting started right," Imac coach Terry Jordan said. "We are dealing with the same issues as earlier this week. We are starting our offense so far apart on the floor and just throwing long passes that we are forcing way too many turnovers."

As Jordan highlighted, another rough start hindered Immaculata early. The team posted just eight points in the first half and trailed 21-8.

Offensively, Imac did better in the second half but the double-digit deficit was too much to overcome.

"We are not very deep with Lainey (Bell) out," Jordan said. "I'm starting three sophomores, a junior and freshman so we are going to have to learn how to compete with this group over these last five games."

Grace Parker led the team in scoring with nine points.

The Lady Raiders, 4-10, will host Troy Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Shoddy start cripples PR

With two minutes left in the first quarter, the Pleasant Ridge girls' basketball team recorded its first points versus Jefferson County North Friday.

It made the score 22-2. By quarter's end, it was 26-6.

That dreadful beginning left PR in a massive hole that it ultimately could not climb out of. Ridge lost 64-31 to its visitors.

"They are good, but we made them look really good by not executing the game plan," Lady Rams coach Mike Koontz said. "Early in the game we did not get back and we just watched them do whatever they wanted to do. Overall, we just didn't perform basic basketball fundamentals."

Ashten Langley led PR in scoring with eight points while Kelsey Carpenter and Jordan Adams each added six.